


It's Good to be Home for the Holidays

by wayfinderings



Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: Comfort No Hurt, Fluff, Gen, Good-natured Teasing, Hot Chocolate, Snow, Some characters are mentioned in passing, Winter, cookie decorating, hearts for the holidays, kh holiday zine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-05
Updated: 2021-02-05
Packaged: 2021-03-16 20:34:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29213505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wayfinderings/pseuds/wayfinderings
Summary: For the first time in over a decade, the Wayfinders participate in some old wintertime traditions as the first snow of the year descends upon the Land of Departure.
Relationships: Aqua & Terra & Ventus (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 16





	It's Good to be Home for the Holidays

**Author's Note:**

> This piece was originally written for and included in the Hearts for the Holidays Zine.
> 
> Anyways, I've always adored the Wayfinders and it was such an amazing opportunity to be able to write a nice, fluffy piece about them for this zine! No keyblades, no looming threats, just cookie decorating, good-natured teasing, and lots of happy feelings because these three absolutely deserve it after everything they've been through.

Ven bounced excitedly on the balls of his feet as he watched the beginnings of the Land of Departure’s first snowfall of the year through one of the floor-to-ceiling windows in the castle’s main study. Bundled warmly in a poofy green sweater, a pair of grey pants that actually covered his ankles, and fluffy black socks, his eyes sparkled with childlike wonder as they followed the small white flakes in their lazy dances on the wind before finally settling to rest among the grasses that surrounded the castle.

He took in a deep breath through his nose, taking in the scents of hot chocolate and sugar cookies that filled the castle’s main halls as a blanket of pure white snow built up outside. His hands were braced against the cool panes of glass, his breath was fogging up the windows, and for a split second it was almost as if he hadn’t missed out on a decade’s worth of first snowfalls while he had been asleep.

_I wonder if it ever snowed while the Land was transformed into Castle Oblivion…_ The thought briefly crossed Ven’s mind before the creak of the study door’s hinges brought on a wave of excitement that hurriedly chased it away. It was a thought to dwell on another day.

He looked over his shoulder to see Aqua and Terra walking into the room, Aqua carrying a tray loaded with sugar cookies, tubes of icing, and three mugs of hot chocolate and Terra carrying a box filled with their personal winter gear for later use.

“Took you two long enough! I’ve been waiting for ages!” Ven called across the room.

“Hey, it’s not our fault that you decided to watch the snow in here instead of helping one of us.” Aqua said nonchalantly as she set down the tray on the small coffee table by the fireplace, punctuating her statement with a quick shrug.

“I really could’ve used the help.” Terra sighed, dropping the box he was carrying with a loud _thud_ , “Using that spell on the castle must’ve rearranged all the storage or something, Aqua, because I almost gave up looking for our gear.”

“Or maybe you just have a terrible memory and couldn’t remember where the box was in the first place.” Ven teased good-naturedly.

Terra huffed in mock offense. “Hey, in my defense, it’s been over a decade, okay? Besides, I highly doubt you would have been able to find the box much faster than I did.”

“Wanna bet that I would’ve?”

“Alright, that’s enough, you two!” Aqua said, stepping in before things could escalate any further with an amused smile on her face, “We’ve got plans for today, remember! It’s the first snowfall of the season today, and we still have a little bit of prepping to do before we make our trip to Disney Town --”

“Disney _Castle_ , now, Aqua!” Ven corrected, cutting her off mid-sentence with a gentle smile as he crossed the room from the window to the table. He could see Aqua’s face redden a bit, embarrassed for not catching her own blunder, before she cleared her throat and continued.

“Yes, of course. Disney _Castle_.” she continued, putting extra emphasis on her correction, “Thank you, Ven. Anyways, Mickey’s letter included a request for everyone to bring a dessert or treat of some sort to share, and since we were going to be decorating cookies today anyways, I made a few batches extra so we could have some to snack on here and some to share when we meet up with everyone.”

“So what’re we waiting for? Let’s get started already!” Ven shouted, probably a bit louder than he probably should have, but Aqua and Terra didn’t seem to mind his show of enthusiasm. He plopped down onto one of the padded benches surrounding the table before leaning over it to grab a couple tubes of colorful icing and a handful of cookies in all kinds of shapes -- simple circles, stars, hearts, snowflakes, a few flowers, and even a couple that were shaped like Lucky Emblems. Aqua and Terra both followed suit, collecting their own shares of icing, but not before Aqua placed the mugs of hot chocolate she had brought closer to the fireplace to keep them warm in the meantime.

The trio fell into a comfortable flow, still so very familiar even after so many years. The fire popped and crackled across the room as they chatted, joked, and simply enjoyed being together as the snow continued to collect outside and their collection of decorated cookies grew larger and larger, too. Among the spread decorated in just about every combination of colors available, a few attempts of capturing Mickey’s likeness in black frosting (along with at least one matching rendition of Queen Minnie) were some of Ven’s favorite cookies in the batch so far.

Oh, how he’d missed this. Granted, he hadn’t been properly awake to _really_ miss what he didn’t know was supposed to be happening, but his heart was still acutely aware of the passage of time that had occurred, and --

Ven shook his head vigorously in an attempt to chase the thought away, startling Aqua and Terra just a little bit. Aqua raised an eyebrow in wordless question as their eyes met, but he just gave her a bit of a sheepish smile before reaching across the table to steal a tube of green frosting from Terra and fumbling with the cap in hopes neither of the two would try to press the matter further. After a few seconds of silence, he heard Aqua let out a sigh and saw Terra shrug, both reaching for more cookies to decorate as things moved on. Ven let out his own near-silent sigh of relief. Today was supposed to be _fun_ , after all, and he was determined not to let any stray trains of thought ruin their entire day.

After another little while -- Ven guessed had to have been at least another hour or so -- Aqua suggested that it was time for a break as she stood up and stretched, preparing to retrieve the mugs of hot chocolate from by the fire. Terra and Ven both agreed enthusiastically, working to clean up and organize the table just a little bit so there would actually be room for their mugs.

“Okay, here we are.” Aqua said, “Dark hot chocolate for Terra, peppermint white chocolate for me, and for Ven, regular milk chocolate --”

“With lots of marshmallows?” Ven finished, a hopeful note in his voice.

“With lots of marshmallows.” she affirmed with a nod as she placed the mugs on the table in front of their respective owners, chuckling in amusement as Ven gave a little fist pump in excitement.

“I’m impressed you remembered all this, Aqua.” Terra remarked, wrapping one of his hands around the warm ceramic mug in front of him and using the other to stir the liquid inside with a small plastic spoon to gradually cool it down. Ven, on the other hand, gently blew over the top and began taking small sips of his drink. Aqua had made it perfectly, just as she always did.

“Oh, please. I’ve made hot chocolate for the two of you so many times that I don’t think it’s even within the realm of possibility for me to forget anymore.” Aqua said with a smirk before letting it fall with a sigh, “But, I love doing it, so...I’m glad that I didn’t. I’m not sure what I would do with myself if I _had_ forgotten.”

“You’d probably work yourself half to death in the kitchen until you got everything _just right_ again.” Terra guessed, “And then Ven and I would have to drag you out before you fall asleep in the pantry again.”

Ven let out a small giggle into his hot chocolate at the image that arose in his mind before Aqua let out a surprised laugh that was much fuller and louder than he had expected it to be.

“Oh, stars, Terra! I almost forgot about that!” Aqua managed to say through her laughter, “When was that again? It was so long ago!”

Terra hummed for a moment in thought, looking down into the liquid in his mug as if he were looking for answers within it as fortune tellers often do with their crystal balls. He shook his head, “I’m pretty sure it was the year or so before Ven showed up.”

“Wait, what happened? I’ve never heard you guys talk about this before!” Ven asked as he hastily wiped a line of melted marshmallow foam and hot chocolate off of his upper lip, excited to hear a story about Aqua and Terra he had yet to be told.

Terra took a moment to poorly stifle a chuckle, “One day, Aqua thought it would be a fantastic idea to stay up all night in the kitchen trying to make the perfect batch of hot chocolate. At some point she decided to sit down and take a break in the pantry, of all places, and ended up falling asleep against the wall. Master Eraqus was quite surprised to see….how many batches was it, Aqua? Something like thirteen or fourteen batches worth of hot chocolate that you had made?”

“That sounds about right…and the kitchen ended up in quite the mess, too.” Aqua answered, giggling a bit in embarrassment, “I remember how glad I was that you were willing to help me clean everything up, Terra. I would have been in there for days if I had to do everything by myself.”

“Wait, I thought the castle’s magic usually took care of that kind of stuff.” Ven said, a bit confused as to why Terra and Aqua would have had to fix the mess manually. That was what the magic was for, after all: cleaning up messes and attending to the general upkeep of the castle so that the keyblade masters-in-training it housed could focus their time and energy on honing their skills and protecting the worlds from darkness.

“Not even the castle’s magic wanted to clean up the mess that Aqua made of the place. We had to be careful doing anything in the kitchen for _weeks_ afterward, because the castle got offended that Aqua had expected it to clean up such a big mess, or something like that.” Terra said with another laugh, which Ven and Aqua eventually joined in on as well.

“At least I wasn’t the one who broke one of the windows here in the study because you had the bright idea of making a snowball around a rock, Terra!” Aqua said, willing to play the game of sorts that Terra had started.

Ven couldn’t help but start laughing harder at the way Terra cringed at the memory as Aqua turned to the windows that were beginning to gather condensation due to the drastic temperature differences inside and outside. She squinted like she was looking for something in particular, before pointing to the pane of glass directly in the center of the window. “If memory serves me right, you broke the bottom half of the middle panel. Is that right, Terra?”

Terra heaved a deep, exasperated sigh. “Yeah, yeah… I’ll admit it: that wasn’t one of my smarter moments, and I’m glad I missed where I had been originally aiming. It hadn’t even crossed my mind that using a rock to make my snowball bigger...might not have been the best idea, considering I was planning on throwing at someone....”

“You think?!” Ven interjected, struggling to reign in his giggles.

“I’m just glad you missed me.” Aqua said with a bit of an exaggerated shudder at the thought,“I would’ve hated to spend time in the castle infirmary because you gave me a concussion, or something. Cure spells don’t fix stuff like that, you know.”

“I’m very well aware, Aqua. I still can’t believe that became a joke between you and Master Eraqus…..”

Both Terra and Aqua dissolved into laughter once more, and Ven’s smile only widened seeing the two of them so happy again after everything that they had been through. Stars, he had _really_ missed getting to enjoy moments like these, and the whistling wind outside the windows, the crackling of the firewood as the logs shifted, and the anticipation and excitement that accompanied the thought of getting to build a snowman with Terra and Aqua again after so long just made it all that much better.

It felt nice, not having any big future conflict looming overhead. It finally allowed for some time for everyone to slow down and just…. _be_ for the first time in a long while. The time was finally freed up for the celebration of this holiday-of-sorts that Ven had looked forward to every single year for...well, as long as he could remember. Today was a day of no training, only happy faces and good memories being made -- wouldn’t Sora, Donald, and Goofy be happy to hear about that.

“Ven, what’s the matter?”

“Is everything okay?”

Suddenly, Terra and Aqua were a lot closer than Ven had remembered them being moments earlier. He had been so caught up in his own thoughts he hadn’t even noticed when Terra had come over to kneel on the ground next to his bench or when Aqua had moved to sit next to him. She reached up, running a thumb across Ven’s cheek and leaving a wet trail in its wake. He could feel his face heating up in embarrassment. How in the worlds had he not noticed that he had been crying?!

He brought an arm up to his face, scrubbing away the tears running to his chin until his whole entire face was red and the end of his sleeve was a whole shade of green darker to show for it. Giving Terra and Aqua a watery smile, he looked down at his hands clasped together in his lap.

“I guess I’m happier than I thought I was.” Ven said. He was surprised by how little his voice shook with the words, for which he was _very_ grateful. “I’m just….really glad that we’re all back together and that we actually have the chance to celebrate the first snowfall this year, is all.”

“Aw, Ven!” Aqua cooed, reaching over and pulling him into a hug, which Ven happily leaned into. “I’m happy we’re all here together, too.”

“There’s nothing in the worlds I could think of wanting more than to be here right now with the two of you.” Terra said, reaching out to ruffle Ven’s already messy head of hair and adding himself to the group hug. For a minute, the three of them huddled together, relishing in the warmth and the closeness and all the other reminders that this was, indeed, real and not just an illusion or a dream or a desperate wish. They were finally, finally together again after so many -- too many -- years, no longer sleeping or split into pieces or trapped in a near unreachable place.

They were here. They were together. They were...they were home.

“Don’t you three have a snowman to be building soon?”

Having missed the usual _poof_ that announced his spirit’s arrival, Ven let out a small exclamation of surprise when the weight of his feline companion quickly descended onto his head.

“We’ll get to it, Chirithy. Don’t worry.” Ven said with a small laugh, leaning forward just a bit to send his spirit companion tumbling into his arms instead. “I’m glad you finally decided to join us.”

“Are you kidding? I wouldn’t miss a chance to have fun with the three of you for all the Lux in the worlds, Ven!” Chirithy exclaimed, waving their short, stubby arms around with every word.

“Well, I suppose we should start getting prepared, then, shouldn’t we?” Aqua said, pushing herself up and brushing a few stray cookie crumbs or bits of dried icing off of her clothes, “Do you still know where the hat we got for Chirithy is, Ven?”

“Oh! I can go get it. I remember where you put it, Ven.” Chirithy said enthusiastically. “I’ll be right back.”

“Alright. And you’re sure you’re not going to need anything else?”Ven asked, receiving an emphatic nod from Chirithy in return.

“Positive! Now if you’ll excuse me.”

With that, Chirithy hopped into the air, doing their signature backflip before disappearing to...well, Ven wasn’t exactly sure where Chirithy went when they disappeared like that in their little cloud of smoke….another question for another day, he supposed. The only thing that mattered at the moment was getting his winter gear on so that he could build the biggest snowman he possibly could.

“Aqua, you wanna bet I can make a snowman taller than Terra?” Ven asked.

“Please. I’m almost twice your height, Ven. You think you can manage that?” Terra scoffed, obviously in challenge.

“For your information, I do happen to know how to high jump and glide, Terra. I think I’ll manage just fine.”

Terra opened his mouth to egg Ven on further, but was abruptly cut off by a laugh from Aqua. “I still stand by what I said that one night. You two would make the weirdest brothers.”

The two boys in question quickly looked at each other, still not quite understanding what it was that Aqua meant, but they joined her in her laughter anyways as Chirithy _poofed_ back into Ven’s arms wearing a cute little red hat. Sparing a quick glance out the window at the snow, he smiled in excitement and gave his little feline companion spirit a little squeeze. He couldn’t wait to go out and make more memories with Terra and Aqua. That was what today was for, after all: having fun and making memories, and Ven was sure they would be ones he would cherish for years and years to come.

**Author's Note:**

> Follow me on Twitter @castlesoblivion.


End file.
